Trees

Kier Living pledges to plant 45,000 new trees to offset carbon usage



Kier Living has teamed up with Forest Carbon to help offset its carbon usage by planting 45,000 new trees by 2020.


Kier Living – part of the Kier Group – has formed the partnership with the company which is leading the way in voluntary carbon woodland creation in the UK.

Over the next three years, the housebuilder will create new woodlands totalling 15,000 trees per annum to balance, in time, its annual 3,500-tonne CO2 footprint.

Kier Living is also implementing greener working practices across all its development sites, including changing the way it uses energy, disposes of waste and how it uses equipment.

It is also helping new homebuyers across all Kier developments to become more energy efficient in everyday life by providing guidance on using household appliances, transport and energy resources.

“Although we are pleased to be leading by example and to be the first UK housebuilder to commit to this initiative with Forest Carbon, we know that we – and the housebuilding industry – need to do more for the environment,” claimed John Anderson, executive director at Kier Living.

“It is a major undertaking, but one which we are 100% committed to achieve, and we’re looking forward to becoming a more carbon-efficient housebuilder by 2020.”

Stephen Prior, director at Forest Carbon, added: “UK forestry is in desperate need of expansion.

“We are among the least-forested countries in Europe, and yet, for example, a staggering 80% of the timber we use is imported.

“We also need new woodlands for habitat, flood mitigation, cleaner rivers and community access, all on top of carbon capture.”

Forest Carbon has planted 5.5 million trees in the UK since 2006 and – through partnerships with responsible businesses such as Kier Living – is removing over 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 from the nation’s atmosphere. 



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